Jenson Button has said he is eager to begin working with his new race engineer, the former Olympic silver medallist Tom Stallard, who will partner the British driver at the German Grand Prix. The reshuffle comes as McLaren bid to build on their performance at Silverstone where Button took fourth place and team-mate Kevin Magnussen seventh.

Stallard, who won his Olympic medal in Beijing as part of the men’s eight and also competed four times for Cambridge in the Boat Race, winning twice, has been with McLaren since the Beijing Games and will replace Dave Robson who has worked alongside Button, initially as his performance engineer, since 2010 when the British driver joined the team as the world champion.

Button said: “I know Tom, my engineer, is very excited. Is he nervous? I don’t think he is. He’s a guy used to nerves, being under pressure, getting a silver in the Olympics, he can take all of that pressure and is excited about the challenge.”

He was also insistent that the change, which is being echoed across the team in various roles as the team principal Eric Boullier and the executive chairman Ron Dennis adjust the McLaren operation, is neither kneejerk nor drastic. “It’s not about getting rid of people, it’s moving people to better suited roles or making them feel refreshed. There are people who are being employed as well, because I think we need that.”

The change is all part of McLaren’s restructuring process as the team aims to move back up the grid having endured a poor performance last year, finishing fifth in the constructors’ championship and with little improvement this season. They are sixth although the two fourth place finishes from the past three races for Button has brought the team within 16 points of Ferrari, who are in third place.

Tom Stallard, second from right, won a silver medal as part of the men's eight in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images

The change will see Robson return to a role in the factory at Woking. “The team feel he has gained so much experience here that would be useful at the factory,” Button said. “And it’s true. We have a lot of engineers at the factory who don’t have race-side experience like Dave does.

“F1 now is not just about two engineers and a racing driver at the circuit pulling a car apart. Most of it is done at the factory and it’s strength at the factory that we need, not just over a race weekend.”

Nonetheless, at the track the team have opted to go with Stallard in a role he has long craved, even alongside the rowing. “I enjoyed rowing while I was doing it but the amount of training was hard. By the time I got my Olympic silver medal I had exhausted all my motivation,” he said in 2012. The 35-year-old, studied engineering at Cambridge and took a master’s course in motor sport engineering at Brunel University, while building up to the Olympics in 2005. He accepted the job at McLaren just before flying out to the Olympic training camp in 2008. His career at Woking began as a simulator test engineer but he moved on to become Button’s performance engineer at the factory.

This weekend in Germany, he makes the step up to fully-fledged race engineer. Finally in position in what he has described as “more or less my dream job”, it will be his voice fans hear over Button’s team radio.

While the team’s restructuring continues, Button remains without a contract for next season, when his current deal with McLaren concludes and has still made no statement on his future with or without the team. In contrast championship leader Nico Rosberg renewed his contract with Mercedes earlier this week and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who has a year and a half of his deal left, noted that he saw his likely future as staying with the team.

“I’m very happy in the team and naturally I assume I’ll sit down with the bosses,” he said. “It’s very difficult for me to see myself anywhere else but you never know what the future may hold.”